Equivalent Exchanging
by just chillin.killin
Summary: 'In hindsight, maybe I should have listened to my teacher. Now I'm in a world filled with super powered beings wearing spandex. It could be worse. At least nobody's trying to take over the world.' FMA/YJ Crossover. Edward/OC. Rated t for cursing
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, or Young Justice**

_**Alchemy: the science of understanding the structure of matter, breaking it down, then reconstructing it as something else. It can even make gold from lead. But alchemy is a science, so it must follow the natural laws: to create, something of equal value must be lost. This is the principle of equivalent exchange.**_

"Normal Talking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Higher Being Talking"**

_**A small house in the town of Resembool**_

"Ed, do you think that we should be doing this. I mean all the books say that this is forbidden." A little blonde boy asked the only other occupant in the room.

Two boys were currently in what appeared to be a basement. The room was outlined in several suits of armor. But at the time, that was not the most interesting feature of the room. In the center of the basement, there was a large circle filled with strange markings made out of chalk, and several ingredients piled in the center.

"Al, the only reason they say that it's forbidden is because no one has ever done it right before." The taller of the two said condescendingly.

"All right, all ingredients are here. Water, 35 liters. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, 4 liters. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosperus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Niter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g. And fifteen other elements. The ingredients for an adult human body." Edward Elric turned to his little brother. "Are you ready to bring mom back?" he asked.

"If you're sure." He handed his brother the knife that they brought with them. He was already holding his own.

They both held their hands over the pile of ingredients, knives inside the palms of their hands.

"The one ingredient that science has never been able to reproduce. The soul." And with those words, they sliced their hands and let the blood drip into the pile.

They both then walked over to the outside of the circle, got on their knees, and placed their hands on the outside of the chalk.

Outside, you could hear a large storm going on. Lightning was striking, thunder was rumbling, and rain was pounding the side of the house.

"Ready Al?" Ed asked his brother.

"Ready brother." Al replied.

"And… Start!"

All of a sudden, the chalk lines started to glow gold, and lightning was striking the pile in the center. The ingredients were mixing and swirling, and forming into something that was starting to look humanoid. Then the golden light grew out from the chalk line, and swirled around the center of the circle.

Outside the golden storm, Ed and Al were grinning like maniacs.

"_Finally, she's coming back!"_ Was the only thought running through Edwards mind.

Suddenly, the gold light turned purple, and the blue lightning turned red. The smiles were no longer on the boy's faces.

The next few moments were a blur for Edward. All that he remembered was seeing a large gate in a pure white expanse, the pain of feeling his leg disintegrating, his brother disintegrating, seeing a pile of what should have been his mother in the center of the circle, binding his brothers soul to a suit of armor, the pain of knowing everything for a few moments, and a pure black figure with a creepy voice saying "**Try this again and not only will your brother be lost, but you as well." **And then, nothing.

_**Earth 16, December 13**__**th**__**, 2007, New Orleans**_

There was a certain appeal for the December air in New Orleans. The normally hot and humid environment was cold and it made for a lot of fun in the snow for the children. It also helped the scenery for a nice walk. This is where we find a past member of the justice society, the precursor for the justice league, Kent Nelson.

After he retired from being Dr. Fate, he would usually take these long walks that sometimes lasted for days, weeks, or even months. New Orleans was his favorite place. He liked to go to the fortune telling tents, and see if there were any people who could be good candidates for the Helmet of Fate.

It was on this particular evening that he would get the first bit of action since the etrogan incident of 1997. He was walking towards another tent, the 5th of the day, then he sensed a powerful energy surge, maybe a block over.

He started to run towards said surge, moving at a pace that betrayed his age. The scene that the retired sorcerer came upon in the ally that the surge came from was, to say the least, horrifying. In the alley was a blonde kid, with a red shirt. He was missing his right arm and left leg. Blood was everywhere.

Kent knew he had to help this boy, not just because he was bleeding out, but because now that he was at the source of the surge of energy, he could tell that it was a type of trans-dimensional portal. That meant that this kid was not of this reality, and as the house keeper for the tower of fate, it was his job to help this boy return home.

The first thing he did was use his magic to cauterize the wounds that he had, so he would stop bleeding. Then he did some stasis magic to keep him in his current state until he could transport him to the tower. He then levitated the boy, and started his trek back home.

_**2 days later Inside the Tower of Fate**_

Edward had some strange wake ups in his life. When he trained with his brother for one year, they were both woken up in many different ways. Once was by teacher transmuting their beds into a slide, and having the ending point slam them into each other. Another was by filling the room up with fire ants. Another was by dumping hot coffee into their faces. Another was by…. You get the point. But this had to be his strangest wake up yet. When he woke up, he could feel the ghost pain in his leg and arm. His vision was fuzzy. And he was sure that his room wasn't this fancy. Four post bed, sheets made of linen, Victorian aged wardrobe, etc.

Then he noticed he was alone. Where was Al? Where were his limbs? Where was he?

As if someone heard his questions, the door opened to an elderly man, wearing a 3 piece suit. He held an air of authority, but also looked like he didn't have a care in the world. It was very soothing to Edward.

The elderly man then held up his hand that had a glass of water in it. Edward then realized that he was extremely thirsty.

He reached for the glass automatically with his right arm, then realized that it was not there.

"Forgot about the lost limb?" The elderly man asked.

Edward got mad and made a swipe for the glass with his left, but the old man brought the glass back before he could reach it.

"You also forgot to say please, and thank you." He reprimanded.

Ed looked down. He then reluctantly asked for the glass. When handed the water, Ed took small sips. When finished, the strange old man took the glass from him, then took a chair that was in the corner of the room and sat down, waiting to see if the boy would talk.

After a minute, Edward looked to his apparent savior and asked "Where am I?"

Kent took a deep breath and told him "I don't think I can tell you where you are without telling you that you're not in a place you will recognize first. My name is Kent Nelson. When I found you, you were in an alley bleeding to death. I took you home and helped you heal."

"If you don't mind my asking, and not to sound ungrateful, but why was I in an alley, and why did you help me?" The eldest Elric didn't understand any of this. _"How did I end up in an alley? What does he mean I won't recognize the name of this place?" _

It seemed the man could read him like a book "I should explain further. I am a sorcerer of the planet earth. When I was taking a stroll through my favorite place, I felt a surge of energy. When I got to the origin of said surge, I found you. I then realized that the surge of energy had to have been a portal from another plane of existence, meaning that you aren't in your own reality. That is what I mean by you won't know the name of this place."

He paused to make sure that the blonde was keeping up. After he deemed he was, he kept going. "But you are in the tower of fate, the central point of magic, and cosmic power of this dimension. As the keeper of this place, it is my duty to make sure that you get back home. So, what's your name, and the name of your country?"

Edward was skeptical, but told him. "My name is Edward Elric. I come from the country of Amestris."

A look of recognition appeared on Kent's face. "Oh! Then that means you come from the dimension that has all those alchemists, right?"

Edward nodded his head. "Does that mean you can take me back to where I come from?" He asked, hope filling his eyes.

"Yeah, it'll just take me a few moments." Kent replied.

"That's…." Edward was about to say great, but then remembered the words of that strange black creature.

"**Try this again and not only will your brother be lost, but you as well."**

He snapped back to reality, and looked up to see Kent looking at him expectantly.

"I can't go back. I think if I try, then not only will the person who sent me here take my soul, but my brothers as well."

Kent looked surprised. "What would you like to do, then?"

Edward looked up at Kent, and thought. "I guess try to live a life here. Maybe try and find a way home that won't upset the laws of equivalent exchange."

"The laws of equivalent exchange? Does that mean that you are an alchemist?" Kent asked, intrigued. He hadn't seen an actual alchemist in decades.

Edward at first had a look of pride on his face, but then it fell as he said "Yes, but without any books on alchemy, I can only go by what I know now. And without automail limbs, I can't even walk right."

Kent started laughing.

"What's so funny!?" Edward asked angrily. This man was laughing at his misfortunes.

"Oh, I'm not laughing at you, calm down kiddo. I'm just amused how you think that the books of alchemy are only held in your dimension. In my retirement from being a superhero, I like to read from the vast library of this tower, and let me tell you, this tower has books from every reality, including books on alchemy and the art of making automail."

At this, Edward felt that glimmer of hope that he was starting to get used to, and then it turned to suspicion. "I don't understand one thing though. Why would you help me?"

Then Kent got a serious expression on his face. "Don't get me wrong. I still expect something from you in return."

"What's that?"

Kent smiled. "What do you think about helping people?"

**End chapter**

**I got the idea for this story after wondering what character from anime's would be perfect for the Young Justice team. I just wanted to read a good crossover fic. Then I thought of alchemy. Great power for this world. And great concept with equivalent exchange. But when I went to go read some FMA/YJ fics, I found out that there was almost none. **

**Then I talk with my brother, and he talked me into writing my own fic. I did steal a concept from Black Phoenix Risen's 'Shinobi Rising' in that the person that finds the dimension traveler and introduces them to the justice league is Kent Nelson. **

**To me, it just makes sense. How else is Ed supposed to get information that he needed to become a great alchemist. He did study in anime for months before taking the state alchemist certification exam. **

**I am contemplating the idea of having a homunculus join the story, but that is just an idea. **

**This is not my first story attempt, but it will be the one that I will put my all into.**

**In the meantime, I'm justchillin,killin.**


	2. Independence Day

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, or Young Justice_**

**_The first step to having wisdom is to know that you know nothing._**

**_Socrates_**

* * *

**Hall of Justice, July 04, 2010**

Two figures stood side by side on top of a hill overlooking the Hall of Justice, the HQ of the Justice League. The man on the left was old. No other way to say it, he was _old._ But fancy. He wore a three piece suit, matching black and white. The man that stood to his right was different. He was a young, blonde boy, wearing a black, sleeveless shirt, black leather pants, white gloves, a red trench coat with a weird symbol on the back and a hood. Under the domino mask he was wearing, you couldn't see he had beautiful, golden eyes.

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into this." Ed grumbled, not liking the predicament he was in.

Kent gave him a disapproving look, replying with, "Quit complaining, sonny. Don't blame me for your choices. You picked this option."

"Only because it was the only way you were going to give me automail limbs!" Ed almost yelled, his anger getting the best of him again.

"Hey, you could have just studied and tried to get back to your own world, I wasn't stopping you."

Much had changed in the three years that Ed had been in this new reality. He no longer hated milk, thanks to a special spell from Kent that rearranged his taste buds. He was now standing at a respectable height of 5'7. His skepticism of magic had also changed. He wasn't as doubtful about it, thanks to Kent, but someone had to do some serious work to make him believe they were magic.

However, just as some things changed, some stayed the same. Like Ed's temperament.

"I would like to see you get forced into another reality, without knowing if there's a way back and see how you like it!" This time Ed did yell, and now people were starting to notice them.

"You really need to learn how to control your anger, kid." Kent was scolding Edward, but then he just sighed. "Let's get going. Don't want to miss our chance."

Ed just mumbled, "Whatever."

They then walked to what Kent described as a secret trapdoor into the Hall. "It's actually a trap door to get _out_ of the Hall. I would sometimes get so bored during meetings, I would just exit via trapdoor, and then just have a good time with Inza." He explained.

"That's nice. Well, let's get this over with." Ed replied.

As they traveled through the underground tunnel, Ed had thought about all that had happened to him in three years. He lost his left leg in an attempt to bring back his mother (which failed miserably) and lost his right arm in order to bind his brothers soul to a suite of armor. Then he did something that he couldn't remember doing that had made the keeper to the gate of knowledge banish his soul to another reality. And in that reality, he gained metal limbs of steel to replace the lost ones, magically connected to him so that they feel like human limbs. He read so many alchemy books, he was sure that he could have passed the state alchemist certification exam, as well as read up on the history of this world to blend in. He worked his body to the bone to be able to do feats that even a member of the Armstrong clan would flex his muscles in excitement over. He agreed to become a hero that would protect those that could not protect themselves.

That last one was the one that he didn't really plan on. Sure, he planned on helping others with alchemy, but not in the capacity that it would be required here in this reality.

"Ah, here we are, this should lead us right into the kitchen." Kent snapped Edward out of his thoughts with that. "I'll bet that they're in the library." As Kent led Edward towards the library, the alchemist took a chance to look around. The place had amazing architecture. He wondered how much material went into it, and also wondered what he could create with all of it.

When they got to the statues of the original 7, the only thought going through Ed's mind was _'What a bunch of narcissists.' _

That's when he could hear an argument in the next room. The room that Kent was leading him to.

"Today was supposed to be _The Day_! Step one in becoming full-fledged members of the Justice League!" Ed guessed that that was one of the sidekicks.

They entered the room and stayed quite to find out what the argument was.

"Well sure… but I thought that a tour of the HQ was the first step?" The guy that Ed could only guess was Kid Flash looked confused. He was looking at Aqualad and Robin. In front of them was Speedy, who had his back to Green Arrow, Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Red Tornado, and the Martian Man Hunter.

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real HQ!" Speedy exclaimed. It would seem that he was the one who was starting the argument. "I bet they never told you the Hall is just a front for tourists and a pit stop to catch a zeta tube to the _real _HQ, an orbiting space station called the Watchtower!"

Green Arrow looked sheepishly at his fellow heroes when they glared at him. "I know, I know," he said with a sigh, "But I thought maybe we could make an exception?" Batman sent him the most powerful glare that Edward had ever seen. "Or not."

"I hope we aren't interrupting something." Kent had gotten fed up with listening to this kid causing a scene, and tried to diffuse some of the tension in the room.

"Oh great. We work for years to get in here, but it seems like complete strangers can just barge in whenever they want!" Their appearance just seemed to make Speedy madder.

"They aren't strangers." Batman said, his voice was the gruffest that the blonde had ever heard. "At least not one of them. Who's your friend, Kent?"

"This here is a person from another reality, seeking to use his talents as a hero for helping others." Kent introduced Ed, as he waved. "His name is Edward Elric. He needs to come up with a superhero name, but that can come later. I brought him here to see if you would know of any way to get him some field experience."

"This is bullshit!" Speedy apparently didn't like being ignored.

"You're not helping your case here, son." Aquaman, seemingly tired of his yelling, tried to calm Speedy. "Stand down, or-"

"Or what?" The young Archer had reached his maximum anger level, and interrupted Aquaman. "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his!" He pointed at Green Arrow with a look of pure hatred. "I thought I was his partner." He grabbed his hat and threw it on the ground. "But not anymore." He walked up to the shocked sidekicks. "I guess they're right about you three. You're not ready." He turned and faced Ed. "And you will never be a real hero."

He marched out of the library, stepping on the hat for emphasis, and left. Green Arrow picked up the hat, a look of sadness coming over him.

Just then, Superman came up on the big computer console. "Superman to Watchtower, there's been an explosion at the Cadmus facility. It's on fire!"

Batman walked up to the console, saying "I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. With the fire, I can invest-". He was cut off by the screen splitting in two, Zatara coming on the other half.

"Zatara to Justice League! Wo-Tan the sorcerer is using the Amulet of Abin to blot out the sun! Requesting a full League response!"

Batman was unsure. "Superman?"

The Man of Steel looked ready to take off, no doubt about to go help Zatara. "It's a small fire. The local fire department can handle it."

"Then Cadmus can wait." Batman decided. "All Leaguers rendezvous on Zatara's location. Batman out." The adult heroes began to file out, but Batman turned to the young protégés. "Stay put."

"What? Why?" Exclaimed Robin.

"This is a league mission," intoned Aquaman.

"You're not trained-"Flash began.

"Since when?"

"You're not trained to be a part of this team, is what I meant."

"There will be other missions when you're ready." Promised Aquaman.

"In the meantime, stay put." Batman then turned to Kent. "I hate to ask but watch over them."

He left with the other League members, with them leaving through the zeta tube to reach the nearest point of Zatara's last location.

There was silence in the room for a while before Kid Flash spoke.

"When we're ready?" muttered Kid Flash, "How are we ever supposed to be ready if they treat us like… like…. Sidekicks."

"My mentor," whispered Aqualad solemnly, "My king. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! Did you miss the part about the secret HQ _in space_!?"

"What else aren't they telling us?"

"I have a better question," Robin butted in, "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?"

That was when Ed, after not speaking the entire time, interjected his opinion. "Because you don't care about getting into the League as much as saving other people."

The young heroes were startled at his words, having forgotten that he was there.

"Who are you?" Robin asked.

"What is Cadmus?" Ed ignored his question.

There was a pause between the heroes, but eventually, Robin answered with a smirk, "I don't know, but I can find out." He headed for the computer.

He sat down and began typing at a frantic pace. The screen flashed as bars of information flew past faster than the eye could follow. "Access denied, "Said the computer.

"Wanna bet?" chuckled Robin as he began to type again.

"Whoa!", said Kid Flash, his eyes trying to follow Robin's fingers, "How are you doing that?"

"Same system as the Bat cave."

"Access granted."

"Alright," Robin began. "Project Cadmus. Genetics lab here in DC. That's all there is. But if Batman's suspicious," he turned to the other heroes, "Maybe we should check it out."

"Solve their case before they do." Said Aqualad with a smirk, "it would be poetic justice."

"Hey, they're all about justice, right?" said Kid Flash excitedly.

Aqualad then frowned before saying "But they said stay put."

"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this!" Cried Robin.

"Wait, are you going to Cadmus?" Asked Kid Flash, rounding Robin to face him, "Cause if you're going, I'm going." They both turned to grin at Aqualad.

"Just like that?" He asked, "We're a team on a mission?"

"We didn't come for a play date," smirked Robin.

"Do you guys mind if I tag along?" Ed smirked. "I want to start being a hero somewhere, why not with a couple of rebels like you?"

"Isn't he going to try to stop us?" Asked Aqualad, pointing at the old magician, who had been looking at a picture on the wall.

He looked at them and grinned. "I never agreed to watch you guys. Batman left before I could say yes."

**Cadmus Building**

* * *

The Cadmus building was small and the fire even smaller. A few scientists seemed to be trapped on the top floor and waved frantically to the firefighters below. Suddenly, a second explosion rocked the building, hurtling the trapped scientist out the window. A yellow and red blur blew by the firefighters and Kid Flash caught the scientists as they fell. He quickly dropped them off on the roof as he struggled to run up the wall of the building. With a grunt, he fell and reached out his hands to grab the window ledge of the second story of the building.

"Hey look!" called a fireman below, "It's Flash Boy!"

"Kid Flash!" he called back, "why is that so hard?"

Aqualad, Robin, and Ed arrived on the scene. Aqualad decided to take charge. "We need a plan. Robin, can you… Robin?" Aqualad noticed that Robin had disappeared. He heard a boyish cackle and saw Robin swing up to the second story window, pick up Kid Flash, and head inside.

"How about this, you put out the fire, and I get the two scientists?" Ed suggested.

"If you can, then do it." With that, Aqualad came to the firemen's aid, while Ed went up to the building.

With an audible clap, Ed pressed his hands to the building, lightning appearing on the surface, and all of a sudden, a part of the wall turned into a slide, designed to slowly let the scientists get to the ground. After they got into the slide, Ed clapped his hands again, pressing his hands to the ground, and from that, the ground raised from under Ed, elevating him to the second floor.

He entered the building, seeing Kid Flash looking around the room, and Robin hacking a computer. Aqualad followed seconds later.

"Appreciate the help," grumbled the Atlantean as he saw the were scientists safely on the ground.

"You handled it, said Robin as he continued hacking, "Besides we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"

Aqualad and Ed started to look around, trying to find some physical information to tell them what Cadmus was up to. Aqualad stopped suddenly after rounding a corner, and stared.

"What is it?"

"There was something in the-"Aqualad mumbled.

"Elevator should be locked down," said Kid Flash as he ran up behind Aqualad.

Robin joined them and peered at the elevator. He drew up his wrist computer and scanned. "Thought so" he said, "This is a high-speed express elevator. Doesn't belong in a two story building."

"Neither does what I saw." Said Aqualad, walking up to the doors and opening them. Robin came up behind him and peered into the dark and seemingly bottomless pit. "I guess that's why they need an express elevator. C'mon," said Robin as he shot a grappling line into the roof. He jumped into the darkness as the others grabbed the rope and slid down after him.

As Robin fell, he watched the floors go by. They were all marked with their respective sub-level. At sub-level 26, the rope ran out and Robin swung himself onto the ledge of the elevator. He began to bypass security as his fellow heroes joined him. Before he could finish hacking, Ed thought that it would be faster to open it himself. Clapping his hands again, he pressed them to the elevator, the trade mark lightning appeared on the surface. The elevator doors dematerialized.

"Whoa, what was that?!" Kid Flash exclaimed.

Ed looked at him with a look of pride. "Alchemy: the science of understanding the structure of matter, breaking it down, then reconstructing it as something else. If you want, you can stop at step two. Breaking it down."

Kid Flash looked excited, and said with a hint of mischief, "Ed, this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

They entered the room and they found themselves at the end of a long, dark hallway. "Welcome to Project Cadmus," said Robin.

Kid Flash ran ahead, leaving behind streak of color. "Wait!" hissed Aqualad, but Kid Flash ignored him. The Atlantean slapped himself on the forehead as they all ran after the speedster.

Just as Kid Flash turned a corner, he cried out. In front of him were massive behemoths, quadruped giants marching down the hallways with tiny little creatures on their backs. Kid Flash slid out underneath them, moving too fast to stop completely. He quickly rolled out from under them as the others joined him.

They took a moment to observe the parade of beasts. "No," said Aqualad sarcastically, "Nothing odd going on here." The parade passed and they saw a large door across the hall from them.

After another dematerialization act, they entered the next room. Robin gapped at what was beyond it. "Okay, I'm, officially whelmed." Thousands of glowing creatures were in tubes stacked to the ceiling, all crackling with electric power.

"This is how they hide a massive underground facility form the world," said Kid Flash as they walked inside, "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! It generates its own power using these… things! It must be what they're bred for or something."

"Of course," said Aqualad, "Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created an army by sowing dragon teeth into the earth."

"And this Cadmus creates new life too," said Robin.

"Let's find out why," said Ed, pointing to a computer at the far end of the room, "Robin?"

"On it." The boy wonder began hacking and read the information as it came. "They're called Genomorphes. Whoa! Look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws…."

"Living weapons," Ed finished. "This goes against everything that I stand for."

"They're engineering an army," muttered Kid Flash, "But for who?"

"Wait, there's something else," Robin continued, "Project Kr. The file's triple encrypted, I can't hack it."

"If it's well protected, they must not want us to find it," said the alchemist.

"Which means we should totally look into it," Robin replied with a grin, "We might just make you a good hero yet."

"Don't move!" cried a voice. They all turned and faced a man in blue and gold armor surrounded by a pack of dog-sized Genomorphes. "Wait," said the man, "Robin? Aqualad? Kid Flash? And…... I'm sorry, have we met?"

"No." Ed realized that he was the only one who this man didn't know.

"At least he got your name right," laughed Robin, taunting Kid Flash.

"I know you," Aqualad said, "Guardian. You're a hero."

"I do my best."

"Then what are you doing here?" demanded Kid Flash.

"I think that's my question, boys," Guardian folded his arms, "I'm chief of security and you're trespassing. But we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

"You think the League will approve of you breeding weapons?" yelled Kid Flash.

"Weapons?" asked Guardian, "what are you-"a tiny genomorph crawled onto his shoulder, its little horns glowing re. Guardian's eyes narrowed and he glared at the heroes. "Take 'em down hard! No mercy!" he ordered and the Genomorphes attacked.

Immediately, Robin threw down a smoke grenade, shrouding the area before he used his grappling hook to escape. Ed did his clap and pressed his hand on the ground making a wall appear before the Genomorphes, and turning to join Robin, calling to the other two, "Run! The wall will slow them down, but not stop them!"

Red lights began to flash and an alarm blared. As Robin began his hacking, Kid Flash ran up behind him. "Way to be a team player, Rob!" he accused.

"Weren't you right behind me?" asked Robin.

"Can we do this later?" Ed motioned towards the wave of Genomorphes that were chasing Aqualad towards them. The elevator doors slid open and they quickly jumped inside. Aqualad rolled in just as the doors closed behind them.

As they took a breather, Kid Flash glanced at the numbers atop the elevator doors. "We're going down? Dude! Out is _up!_"

"Yeah, but Project Kr is down," breathed Robin, "Sub-level 52."

"This is out of control," said Aqualad with a sigh, "Perhaps… perhaps we should contact the League" For a moment, they were silent. Then the elevator doors opened with a ding. Beyond the doors was cavernous hall. The walls were covered in a pustules-filled ooze that made it look like it was alive.

"Well?" said Ed as he stepped forward, "We are already here."

"Yeah," muttered Robin, "Bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?"

"Hold!" they turned to see a tall, frail, blue skinned humanoid with large horns emerge from around the corner. Robin threw a shuriken at it, but it stopped in midair. The shuriken then went straight back at them. Robin threw another shuriken to stop it, and they all turned to run away.

As they rounded a corner, they saw a massive sliding door slowly close as a scientist walked out. Kid Flash tripped up the scientist and braced the door with a nearby canister. They all then slipped through the door way. When they all entered, Aqualad kicked the canister to make the doors shut.

"So what now?" asked Aqualad, "We're trapped in here for a while."

"Uh, guys?" Said Kid Flash, "You'll want to see this." He pressed a few buttons on the console before him and the room lit up. In the center of the cove was a tall glass pod. Inside, a young man in a white jump suit lay propped up against a table with three tiny Genomorphes surrounding his head. What was most intriguing, however, was the red 's' emblazoned across his chest. "Big 'k', little 'r'," said Kid Flash as he approached the pod, "The atomic symbol for Krypton!" He turned back to the others questioningly. "Clone?"

"Robin, hack!" ordered Aqualad.

"Right." The boy wonder quickly bypassed the computer terminal's security and read aloud. "Weapon designation Superboy, a clone who was grown in," his eyes widened, "Sixteen weeks! From DNA acquired from Superman!"

"Stolen from Superman." Replied Aqualad angrily.

"There is no way the big guy knows about this." Kid Flash added his two cents.

"His solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7." Said Robin grimly.

"What are those Genomorphs doing?" asked Aqualad, pointing to the tiny trolls.

"They're G-Gnomes. Telepathic. They're force feeding him an education."

"And who knows what else?" said Kid Flash, "They're making a weapon out of Superman's… Well, son."

Aqualad motioned to press the Atlantean symbol on his belt, "Now we contact the League." But when he pressed it nothing happened.

"We're in too deep, literally." Robin explained.

Robin turned to Ed, and asked, "Do you think that you could create a thick wall to stall them while we figure something out?"

Ed shook his head. "In order for me to create a thick wall, I need to have a lot of material to use. I can't just create something out of nothing."

"What they're doing is wrong." Kid Flash exclaimed. "We can't leave him like this."

"Way ahead of you." Robin responded, typing away.

The pod that held the Superboy opened up and, for a moment, there was silence. Then, Superboy flexed his hand. His knuckles cracked violently and they all took a step back, except Ed, who was looking closely at the G-Gnomes horns that were glowing red.

Suddenly, Superboy grabbed Ed, and threw him hard against a wall, knocking him out.

The young Kryptonian then dove for Aqualad.

He was lying on the Atlantean and beating down on him before anyone could react, but almost immediately was held by Robin and Kid Flash.

Easy, Supey!" shouted Robin, "We're on your side!" Superboy backhanded Kid Flash into the far wall, knocking him unconscious. "I don't want to do this!" cried the boy wonder as he stuffed a smoke grenade in his face. Superboy then smacked Robin away, who somersaulted in midair, and fired a taser gun at the angry Kryptonian. The voltage seemed to do nothing to him, as the boy of steel grabbed the wires, and yanked Robin to him. Catching him in the air, Superboy slammed him into the ground, making another go unconscious.

Aqualad came up from behind and tried putting him in a sleeper hold, but the super strength teen jumped up, slamming the Atlantean into the ceiling before throwing him to the ground, and landing on his chest for good measure.

Superboy stood there, looking at the four unconscious teens, before carrying out his orders.

* * *

**_A list of thanks_**

**_First off, I cannot believe the reception this story has gotten with only 2,000 words. I thought that I would only get a few people to read this, but this is far more than I ever imagined. Thank you all who have viewed this story._**

**_Second, a special thanks to those who have this story as a following, you guys are awesome._**

**_And third, to kyunaru, thank you for being the first to review this story, and to follow it._**

**_Now, IMPORTANT, I need people to send in OC ideas for Ed's love interest. PM me, don't leave them in the reviews. I will need birth place, religion, looks, normal clothes, name, etc. But just one thing. SHE CAN'T HAVE POWERS, OR THE CAPACITY TO FIGHT CRIME. SHE WILL NOT BE A PART OF THE TEAM! She will eventually find out his secret identity, but she will not be a crime fighter. _**

**_Also, I need people to send in ideas for Ed's superhero name._**

**_Lastly, I need someone to help me write fight scenes, because I am going to suck at them._**

**_Till next time, I'm just Chillin, Killin._**


	3. fireworks

**_I don't own Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, or Young Justice_**

**_"If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater."_**

**_Buddha_**

* * *

**Sub-level 52 of Cadmus building, morning of July 5****th**

Ed lifted his head, feeling a bit sore from going into a wall. _'Damn. I was taken out so easily. I should have paid closer attention._'

He looked around at where he was. Ed was in the same kind of room he had just previously been in, except instead of there being a single pod, there were four, and he was in one. The other heroes were in the others with Superboy glaring at them. The Alchemist looked over and saw that his comrades were coming to. It seemed like something was rousing them at the same time.

"What?" groaned Kid Flash as he took in his surroundings. Seeing Superboy standing in front of him, he got mad. "What do you want? Quit staring! You're creeping me out!"

"Ah, KF?" said Robin gently, "How about we not tick off the guy can fry us with a look?"

Ed looked at Robin with a deadpan expression. "I think you're asking for the impossible."

"Dude!" Kid Flash exclaimed with a glare.

Aqualad stared mournfully at the stock still Superboy. "We only sought to help you."

"Yeah!" shouted Kid Flash, "We free you and you turn on us. How's that for gratification?"

"Kid Flash, please," Aqualad said, "I believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions."

Ed saw that Superboy was struggling with something, effort clear across his face. "What if…" His voice sounded hoarse. He obviously hadn't used it in a while, if ever. "What if I wasn't?"

"He can talk?" The speedster shouted in surprise. Everyone just glared at him.

None were staring at him as hard as the super clone. He responded with a "Yes, HE can!"

If Ed could face palm, he would. "Why wouldn't he be able to talk?'

Before Wally could redeem himself, Aqualad inquired to Superboy, "The G-Gnomes taught you telepathically, did they not?

"They taught me much,"said Superboy carefully, "I can read, write, I- I know the names of things."

"But have you seen them?" asked Robin, "Have they ever actually let you see the sky? Or the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind, but no, I have not seen them." Superboy conceded.

Ed looked at the clone with sadness in his eyes that crossed over into his voice when he talked, "That's so sad. I can't even imagine what life would be like without ever seeing the sun."

"Do you know what you are?" asked Aqualad, "Who you are?"

"I am the Superboy," said the clone, standing up straight, happy he finally had an answer he could confidently give, "A Genomorph, a clone created from the DNA of the Superman, created to replace him should he parish, to destroy him should he turn from the light."

"To be like Superman is a noble aspiration," said Aqualad carefully, "But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own, beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."

"I live because of Cadmus!" snapped Superboy angrily,

"You live to serve someone else's agenda." Ed responded, wanting to help in the conversation. "To be a puppet that will help them win any argument through brute force. This isn't how Superman was made. He had a family. A home."

"Cadmus is my home!"

"Your home is a test tube." Robin countered dryly. "We can show you the world. The sun."

"Um, I'm pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can totally show you the moon," interjected Kid Flash.

"We can show you, introduce you, to Superman," offered Aqualad gently. For a moment, Superboy's resolve waivered. His face showed a glimpse of hope, of eagerness to meet his idol.

"I'm afraid they offer you empty promises," said a voice. Everyone's attention was drawn to the far wall, where a door slid open to reveal Guardian and a scientist in a white lab coat, G-Gnomes on both of their shoulders. "They'll be a little too busy to show you to Superman," said the scientist as they strolled in, "Activate the cloning process." Guardian walked over to the computer and began initiating the sequence.

"Pass," called robin, "Batcave's crowded enough."

The scientist rolled his eyes. "And get the weapon back in its pod!"

"Hey!" Yelled Kid Flash indignantly, "How come _he _gets to call Supey an 'it'?"

"Because he's the bad guy, you idiot!" Ed had just about enough of the loudmouth.

Guardian laid a hand on Superboy's shoulder, but the young clone gently pulled away.

"Oh don't start thinking now," said the scientist, the G-Gnome on his shoulder hopping over to Superboy. Its tiny horns glowed for a moment and Superboy's eyes became glassy and unfocused. "See, you're not a real boy, you're a weapon. And you belong to me… well, to Cadmus… same thing. Now get back to your pod." Superboy slowly walked away.

Before he could leave, Ed said loudly, "See, I told you. Just a puppet to win an argument. I wonder though. What would Superman do?"

When Superboy heard that, he stopped, which was right before exiting the room. "Why did you stop! Get back in your pod!" Exclaimed the scientist, both angry and surprised. Superboy turned around and stalked forward, "I said get back in your p-"He was tossed to the other side of the room, along with Guardian who was coming to contain the boy of steel.

"Don't give me orders," the young clone told the scientist coldly. He then walked up to Ed's pod and broke him out.

"Thanks for proving me wrong." The alchemist told his new friend, "I don't suppose that you could free Aqualad while I get the other ones, do you?"

"Just don't tell me what to do."

All of a sudden, Robin broke out of his restraints with a resounding, "Finally! Thank goodness Batman _isn't _here, or he would have my head for taking so long."

"Seriously? That's what you're worried about?" asked Kid Flash, "The whole league will have our heads after tonight!"

"Uh, guys?" Inquired the young Kryptonian, "I don't have heat vision, so we are going to have to do this the hard way." He jumped up onto the pod the Aqualad was trapped in, crumbling the restraints in his hands, while Ed moved over to Kid Flashes and dematerialized them.

"You'll never get out of here!" cried the scientist as his former captives ran by him, "I'll have you all back in pods by morning!"

"That guy is not whelmed," said Robin, "Not whelmed at all."

"What is it with you and this 'whelmed' thing?" asked Kid Flash as Robin tossed explosive disks at the pods, blowing away all useful containment methods on this floor. As they ran down the halls of Cadmus, the pustules on the walls began to glow. Ed glanced behind them and saw some of the dog Genomorphes being birthed form the growths. He grit his teeth in a grimace and picked up the pace.

"We are still 52 levels below ground. But if we can get to the elevator, we should be fine!" shouted Aqualad, pointing ahead. As he spoke, several massive Genomorphes appeared on either side of the elevator and moved forward to block the team. As one, they skidded to a halt just in time to keep from getting crushed underfoot. Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, and Ed ducked around the giant beasts, but Superboy let loose a primal roar and engaged them head on. He jumped up to punch one, then got knocked down by another, which would become a pattern. As he continued to fight, the caves structure got weaker and weaker.

"Superboy!" shouted Aqualad, "The goal is escape! Not to bury ourselves!"

"You want escape?" demanded Superboy with a mad look (both as in the insane definition, and the anger) and tossed one giant into another two, then ran to catch up to his would be rescuers.

After Aqualad opened up the doors, Ed created another set of stairs that he could run up, but he could only make it to the furthest he could see. It would take them close. Kid Flash came up behind him and offered a piggy back ride. "You build me a path, and I'll run it."

Robin shot a grappling hook to the top, and Superboy grabbed Aqualad to fly up. But as they got to Sub-level 7, Superboy began to slow down, with the words "I'm falling," coming from his surprised face. Robin turned around and threw a shuriken at them that Aqualad caught, stopping them right at sub-level 15. The boy wonder and the speedster came over to them, with the alchemist on their tail.

"Superman can fly," mumbled the disappointed clone, "Why can't I fly?"

Kid Flash rushed up to him and tried cheering him up, "I don't know, but it still looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool."

Superboy looked at him with a grateful look, "Thank you."

"Uh, guys?" Robin spoke quickly, looking up. "This will have to be our stop." Above them, the elevator cab was falling, crushing Ed's stairs at the same time slowing it down. The young teens all jumped into the hall, just barely missing the cab.

Seeing a bunch of the Genomorphes coming down the main hall towards them, they all turned to run down the left path. Some ways down the hall, Superboy got a look of shock on his face, then one of determination. "Go left, left!" They all moved to go down the left turn. "Right!" They did as he said, and it led them to a dead end.

"Great directions Supey!" Kid Flash growled, "You trying to get us re-podded!"

The young clone looked down in confusion, mumbling "I don't understand. I thought-"

"Don't apologize," Robin interrupted, "This is perfect!"

They all started to climb into the ventilation shaft, Ed thinking "_This is bullshit!"_ the entire way.

Far down the shaft, Superboy stopped and said "Listen!"

"Is this a super hearing thing?" asked Kid Flash, apparently hearing nothing, just like me.

"Shhh! I think they followed us into the shaft."

"Don't worry!" The boy wonder said with a sly grin. "They'll start going the wrong way."

Ed looked at him skeptically, as they exited the cramped space, "How do you suppose that?"

"I hacked the motion sensors!" Robin exclaimed, putting away his computer watch that he was using in the shaft.

"Sweet!" Kid Flash exclaimed while putting on his goggles.

"There's still a lot of space to cover, and a lot more of them."

"But now I have room to move!" With that, Kid Flash speed up the stairway that the heroes were next to. The teens followed him up while he took down a lot of the Genomorphes that occupied the stairs. Aqualad transformed his water bearers into a sword and mace, fighting through the ones that Kid Flash missed.

Ed turned around when they got to sub-level 1, and saw that hundreds upon hundreds started speeding up, climbing the stairs faster than they could. Stopping and letting the others get ahead of him, the blonde clapped his hands and transmuted the stairs that were below him into a spike filled wall that would stop the Genomorphes from following them.

The others all exited out a door that was marked 'sub-level 1' and Kid Flash sped off, smashing into a doorway that closed.

Aqualad ran up behind him, "We're trapped!"

"Thanks, my face hadn't noticed!"

Superboy and Aqualad tried forcefully opening it. It wasn't working, so Robin tried hack his way into opening it, but almost immediately stated, "I can't hack this fast enough." They heard screaming down the hall and Ed came barreling towards them, with a lot of the Genomorphes following him. Robin kicked down a door that was next to him, shouting "This way!" And they all obeyed.

They came into another room, but it was filled to the brim with the creatures and Guardian. The group of teens all got into fighting stances, but as soon as the G-Gnomes' horns started glowing, they all dropped down, unconscious.

The next thing Ed knew, he was awaking up, thinking _"I really need to stop passing out." _He heard Superboy saying "I choose freedom."

He looked up and everyone looked calm. Guardian stood, shaking his head muttering "Feels like… Fog lifting…" He turned to the heroes, and commanded "Go, I'll deal with Desmond."

"I think not." The now named Desmond called out from behind the army of Genomorphes. He held up a glowing, blue vile, saying "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." He downed the vile.

"I'm getting sick and tired of all these projects." Ed announced as the scientist started to convulse in pain. He fell to his knees, shirt ripping from his muscles bulging, and growing. The surrounding people looked on in disgust as his skin started to come off, leaving a blue, hominoid mass of muscles, his face skin still hanging on. Desmond turned to the heroes and roared a deafening roar.

Guardian shouted "Everyone, back!" and charged the beast, but was immediately backhanded. He was out before landing on the ground.

Superboy yelled out a battle cry, and jumped towards Desmond, smashing him in the face with a straight punch, but was soon hammered down by the monsters fist. He came back up with another punch to the face, and did a quick one two combo. As he was coming in for another punch, he was slammed in the face by a haymaker, sending him to the floor a few feet away.

Superboy quickly got up and jumped to crush the behemoth, but Desmond roared and rushed the clone, spearing him through the ceiling and onto the surface floor.

"Okay," Robin commented, "That's one way to bust through the ceiling." He shot his grappling hook up through the hole, grabbed Kid Flash, and started to ascend.

"You think lab coat planned that?" The red head asked.

Aqualad grabbed Ed, and jumped out, muttering "I don't think he's planning anything anymore."

When the four got topside, they looked on in horror as Superboy was getting the beat down of a lifetime. As soon as he got free of the bear hug he was in, he was grabbed and thrown at the others. All moved out of the way.

Except for our favorite Atlantean.

All the heroes started to retreat from the beast. All but Ed. Ed calmly walked forward towards the former doctor, simply saying "Let's dance." before throwing off his red cloak. What was under made the group of comrades go wide eyed.

"Dude," Kid Flash called out, "you have a metal arm?"

Ed got into a standard fighting stance, waiting for Desmond to come at him. He didn't have to wait long. With a cry, the blue mass came at him, going for a right hook. Ed ducked and came up with a vicious right upper cut, then rolled into himself to get behind Desmond, effectively dodging his countering fist. Once behind him, Ed used his left leg to sweep his opponent off his feet and flipped backwards as Superboy came down with a devastating knee to the face.

Desmond got up with a groan, only to be given a big superman punch by Aqualad and Superboy (The one in UFC, not a punch by Superman). The blockbuster tripped over a certain speedster, who was behind him on his hands and knees.

It all did nicely to buy Ed some time to get over to a support column, where he clapped his hands and pressed them to it. The column started to break and transmuted into a marble gatling gun. He turned it towards Desmond, who just swatted away some of Robins shuriken. He called out to them "Get out of the way!" Everyone looked to him, and the teens moved, while Desmond roared again.

With the blue beast coming towards him, Ed started firing. Instead of bullets, though, it was firing out marble bits. It didn't hurt Desmond much, Ed knew, but it did slow him down. _"While I distract him, the others can come up with a plan to keep him down."_

Soon, the gun ran out of bullets, forcing Ed to throw it away. The giant didn't expect the alchemist to clap his hands and bring them to the ground. Desmond rushed at him, seemingly forgetting what happened the last time Ed had clapped his hands. He tripped over an intrusion in the floor, that wasn't there before, falling face first into Ed's rising metal fist.

Ed looked over at the others to see what they were doing, and saw them all huddled around Robin, whose wrist computer was showing them the columns. Ed jumped away from the furious Desmond, whose face skin had completely been ripped off by now.

As he was leading the monster away from the others, he tried to think of what they were planning. _"Of course. Bring down the pillars, the whole building falls on him." _

Ed back flipped away from another swipe, but couldn't dodge the follow up strike. He flew back, smashing into a wall that was next to Robin. When Ed looked up, he noticed that the teens plan was going into effect. Kid Flash was tricking Desmond to smash the pillars, while Superboy was smashing them on his own. Meanwhile, Aqualad was laying down water, leading to an X that Robin was marking. Ed also saw that robin had placed exploding disks on certain beams.

So when Kid Flash came skidding through the water, Ed and Superboy both jumped through the air and punched Blockbusters face while he was followed in the red heads path. When the blue beast stood up, Aqualad electrified the puddle, and Blockbuster with it.

When Desmond was standing there, stunned, Robin shouted out to everyone, "Move!" and they all started to run. The disks timers went off, causing the whole building to come crumbling down. Before it could crush the teens, Superboy and Aqualad jumped over to cover everyone.

* * *

After the smoke cleared, Aqualad and Superboy lifted the debris from them, revealing that they hadn't covered Ed that well. His robotic limbs were crushed, but he seemed alright otherwise, as did everyone else.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Robin asked rhetorically, high fiving Kid Flash. As soon as they did though, they flinched in pain.

They all gathered towards each other, with Superboy holding Ed up, to look at the defeated Desmond. When that was done, there was one thing left to do. The clone looked up, and for the first time, saw what freedom looked like.

"See," Kid Flash said with excitement, "The moon!"

They all looked in wonder at the sky. Then in curiosity when a small dot appeared in the glow of the moon. It grew larger and more visible as it came closer.

"And Superman," said Kid Flash, "Do we make good on our promises or what?"

The entire Justice League floated into view; those who couldn't fly were carried by the Green Lanterns. It was an impressive sight to say the least. For a moment, there was silence as they all landed. Superboy started to walk up to Superman, but was stopped by Ed, who he was still helping. "Don't expect too much. This will be a big shock to him."

Nodding, Superboy gave Ed to Aqualad, and started to slowly move towards Superman, who stared at him suspiciously. Superboy lifted the torn cloth of his chest to reveal the S shield to his biological donor. Superman's eyes widened in shock, but he said nothing.

Before anyone could say anything, the clone spoke his first words to Superman. "I know you're probably confused right now, so I'll try to keep it short. I'm your clone." Everyone around them looked on in shock, but Superboy didn't care. All he cared about was talking to his idol. "I know that you may be wondering why I'm here. So Aqualad and I will tell you everything, while the others are treated."

While some went to help bandage the others up, Batman came over to Aqualad and Superboy with the rest of the founding members. He looked right at them, and firmly ordered, "Talk."

While Superboy and Aqualad were explaining to the leaders, Kid Flash turned to Ed, and started to make small chat while some first aid. "So what was this reality of yours like? Could a lot preform this 'alchemy' that you can do?"

Ed started to tell them all about his world. The speedster almost had a heart attack when he found out that Ed's reality had only gone into the industrial revolution phase of its history.

"When I found out about all the technology from this world," Ed started, "I was amazed. This world's scientific community is so much more advanced than mine. But I've had a few years to get used to it."

The only thing he didn't tell them was about his life. He didn't trust them enough with that emotional pain. They weren't that close. So when they asked him how he got into their world, he replied with, "I got the mixture of a transmutation mixed up, and it took away my arm and leg. I tried to make some new human limbs, but I got the circle mixed up, and it sent me here. I can't try to go back because it was a one in a million chance mistake."

Around that time, Aqualad and Superboy came over to join them, their explanation given. The Leaguers where standing in a circle, no doubt deciding what to do about the blatant act of disrespect on the sidekicks part, and judging the trustworthiness of Ed and Superboy.

After a while, they stopped talking and turned to them. Superman came up to Superboy. He looked very awkward while he was speaking. "We'll, ah, we'll figure something out for you. For now I... I'd better go make sure they get that Blockbuster thing all squared away." Before Superman started to fly away, he said to his clone, "I'll come talk to you later though."

As he flew away, the young Kryptonian had a small smile on his face.

"Cadmus will be investigated," The Batman started. "All 52 levels. But let's make one thing perfectly clear-

"You should have called!" Interrupted the Flash angrily.

"End results aside," Batman continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "We are _not _happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again, understood?"

The group shared a quick glance, but it was enough for an unspoken agreement to pass between them. "I'm sorry," Aqualad spoke for the team, "But we will."

"Aqualad," barked Aquaman, "Stand down."

"Apologies, my king," insisted Aqualad, "But I will not." Aquaman arched an eyebrow as his protégé continued. "We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important."

"If this is about your treatment at the Hall," interjected the Flash, "the three of you-"

"The _five_ of us!" countered Kid Flash, "And it's not about the Hall."

"Batman," sighed Robin, "We're ready to use what you've taught us, or why teach us at all?"

"Why let them decide?" demanded Superboy, "it's simple: get on board, or get out of the way!"

They all looked to Batman to see what he would say. "Give me four days."

* * *

**July 9****th**

The team was reassembled inside the Mt. Justice cave in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. They were all in their civilian clothes, although Robin had dark sunglasses over his eyes.

Ed was wearing regular black running shoes, blue denim jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red jacket.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman explained, "We're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms." He looked to the team for confirmation and they all nodded in understanding. "Red Tornado has offered to live here as your supervisor, and Black Canary has agreed to train you. I will deploy you on missions.

"Real missions?" demanded Robin.

"Yes, but covert," Batman confirmed.

"The League will still handle the big stuff," said the Flash, "There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves that the bad guys are getting smarter," continued Aquaman, "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

"The six of you will be that team," finished the Dark Knight.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Kid Flash, but then he looked confused, "Wait, the six of us?"

Batman nodded to the Zeta Tube, where Martian Man hunter approached from the shadows, accompanied by a Martian girl that had a human shaped face, and with red hair. "This is the Martian Man hunters niece," Batman introduced, "Ms. Martian."

"Hi!" she said nervously.

"Liking this gig more every second." Whispered Kid Flash as he shot to the girl's side, "Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin, Aqualad, Ed, its cool if you forget their names."

"I'm honored to be included," she said shyly as she shook Kid Flash's waiting hand. Robin and Aqualad moved forwards to introduce themselves properly. Ed laid his hand on Superboy's shoulder, seeing him about to go sulk in a corner. "C'mon" he said, "If we don't introduce ourselves, Kid Flash will talk her to death." Superboy grinned at him as the alchemist lead him over to the others.

After they introduced themselves, the Martian teen looked down with a blush, and her clothes color scheme changed to match Superboy's. "I like your shirt."

Superboy smiled softly at her.

Before they could all start to get comfortable, Batman placed a hand on Ed's shoulder. "We have one more thing to discuss." He spoke seriously, "Everyone here has a designation, except you. So I need a name for your superhero identity."

Ed got a look on his face that told them he never even thought of a name. He thought for a while, and got a smile on his face, before looking at Batman, and saying "Call me…"

**End chapter**

* * *

**_Thank you all for the reviews and reading this story. And I thank you for taking time out of your days to think of the superhero names._**

**_Now IMPORTANT! I have a poll on my profile to decide the name. It will be down by the time I update the next chapter, which will probably be sometime next week. (I don't really have a schedule for this story)_**

**_No submits for the potential love interest yet, but I will need ideas by the time we get to the schooled chapter. I have ideas for this thing. _**

**_I no longer need a beta, but thank you to those that applied for the position._**

**_Tell me how my fight scene was._**

**_Till next time, I'm just chillin, killin._**


	4. Loose Ends

_**I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, or Young Justice**_

_**No quote for chapter**_

_**I have decided to make a chapter to cover some loose ends. I don't want people thinking that I am trying to confuse them with pointless little changes to the original story line.**_

* * *

**Tower of Fate, July 10****th**

"Full Metal?" asked Kent disbelievingly. "You chose for your secret identity 'Full Metal'?"

Ed was currently doing one armed pull ups in the gym that the tower had. It was amazing the kind of things that the tower would give you if asked. He had stopped trying to understand it after his first month. "Yes, Full Metal." The alchemist was starting to get annoyed by his mentor in heroics. This was the first interaction he had with the magician after he left the Hall of Justice. Kent had apparently went out for a _walk_ that lasted 5 days to sight see a few countries. _Damn his teleportation magic._

"You couldn't have picked a name that made more sense?" Kent continued his rant. "Why not Alchemist? Why not Elementalist? Why Full Metal?"

"That's what the voters wanted."

"What?"

"Because it reminds me of what I'm doing." Ed explained, getting off of the chin bar and going over to the bench press. He made special care to only use his right arm for balance. He grunted, "In Amestris, the State Alchemists were the ones who kept order in the world. That's not that different from the Justice League. After completing the State Alchemist Certification Exam, a new State Alchemist would be given a code name related to the kind of alchemy that they specialized in. I assume that my code name would have been Full Metal. So to answer your question," he paused, trying to complete his set before finishing his sentence, "I chose Full Metal because it reminds me that I am doing this to help others."

The century old man looked impressed at Ed. Both for his sound reasoning and that he could lift those weights with only one arm. They weighed 200 pounds on each side. "Well, it doesn't roll of the tongue like Dr. Fate, but it will have to do. I wanted to talk to you about something else though. Something important."

Ed set the weights back on the benches holders and sat up. "Look, I know that you think of yourself as a father figure to me. I understand that. I also understand that you know that I have never had a father figure in my life. But I don't want you to have _the talk _with me."

"What?" the retired hero questioned. "No, no, nothing like that."

"Thank science for that." Ed was relieved. He didn't mind Kent's attempts to be a parental figure in his life. He welcomed a person of the male persuasion to actually _want _to be there for him. _Stupid Hohenheim. He didn't even bother to tell us goodbye_. "So what did you want to talk about?" Ed asked, coming up to the punching bag that was in to center of the room.

"I wanted to discuss your living arrangements here." This confused Ed. Wouldn't he still be living in the tower? Did Kent want him to move out? These questions filled his mind while he was going through his martial arts katas on the punching bag. "It's nothing bad." Kent went on, "It's just that I was thinking that you could also use a life outside of the superhero thing."

Ed grunted as he threw an overhead left hook at the bag. "What do you mean? A civilian identity?"

"Exactly. You should get out there. See the world. It helps keep your mind off of things that are out of your control."

Ed did a spinning right heel kick, then followed up with a right jab, then finished with a left head kick, knocking the bag off of its hinges. "That sounds great," Ed panted. He took off the weights that he had attached to his limbs. _Good workout_.

"Good," Kent exclaimed, "I'll enroll you for school in the fall!"

"WHAT!? I didn't agree to school!"

"Well, it's kind of too late. I turned the paperwork in yesterday."

_THIS IS BULLSHIT!_

* * *

**Mount Justice**

_I can't believe I'm free._

The boy of steel had been wandering the cave, trying to familiarize himself with the place. Ms. Martian was in the kitchen trying out recipes. He still didn't understand how she knew how to cook earth food, but he decided not to ask.

It had been an eventful week for Superboy. He broke out of his birth place, made four amazing friends and a roommate with a Martian, got to meet with his idol and biological DNA donor, and formed a covert ops team with the Justice Leagues protégés. Very eventful.

But Superboy was having a hard time. He wasn't used to being allowed to move around. He wasn't really used to anything at all but that was beside the point. The point was that it was all new to him.

He also was wondering when he would speak to Superman. The man of steel had said that he would talk to him, but it had been five days so far. _Did he just tell me that to make me feel better? Am I just a disappointment to him?_

Before his dark thoughts could continue, the zeta tube announced the arrival of the very person he was thinking of.

"_Recognize: Superman-01"_

Superboy turned towards the arriving hero, a sense of anxiety coming over him. He wasn't sure he was ready for Superman to tell him how much he didn't want to accept a clone of himself.

"Superboy. Can we talk?" The man of tomorrow spoke, a tone of uncertainty filling his voice.

"If you're not busy." Superboy replied, the same tone in his voice.

"Thank you for your concern, but I feel like I need to address this… Problem that I have, and it concerns you." Superman was trying to phrase his words carefully, not wanting to upset his clone.

"What's the problem?" Said clone asked, fearing the worst.

"It's just that… that… I don't know what it is, I just get this feeling of uncertainty around you, like we shouldn't be around each other."

Superboy could tell that Superman was holding something back, and called him out on it. "Do you feel like I'm… I'm a mistake?"

"NO! No, It's not that, it's just… that…" Superman paused, looking at his clone with an uncomfortable gaze. He really didn't want to be here. But he promised he would give the clone a chance.

So he just let it out.

"Look, I'll be straight with you," The clone's donor began, "I know that you might feel like I should act like your father. Heck, everyone seems to think that I should take you in as my son. But I can't do that. I already have enough to worry about without having to be a father to someone. But people just assume that I'm in the perfect place in my life to have a son. Well I'm sorry that I don't want to have a child right now, but that's the truth." Superman had started to pace, looking like he had to get some stuff off his chest.

"I'm expected to do so much for everyone. I like what I do, I really do. I help people. I save people. I try to change some people's minds for the better. But when I try to do one thing that goes against everyone's expectations, I'm suddenly the bad guy?! Why? Because I think that a teenager would be better off being looked after by someone with experience in raising a child? We'll I'll tell you right now, I don't think that I should be your father. I'll just be some unreachable goal, a person that you put on a pedestal, a reference of how well you did at something. And -"

"I don't want you to be my dad." Superboy interrupted.

"…. What?" Superman was shocked, and confused.

"I never said that I want you to be my dad. I don't even think of you as my dad." The clone responded. He was kind of relieved that the Kryptonian didn't think of him as an abomination, and actually cared about how he thought of things. It was a load off his chest. "The thought of you being my father never even came across my mind. You have always just been an idol for me. A role model. I was originally created to replace you, but Ed and Aqualad have taught me better. Now I can be my own person._"_

"So you don't want me in your life?" Superman asked, confused.

"Of course I want you in my life. Just as a mentor, not as a father."

"Uh…" Superman was in a state of shock. He didn't expect that response. He didn't know if he could really _be _a mentor, but he was willing to try. "Okay. Where should we start?"

"We could talk, maybe get on a personal level. I'm still kind of getting used to being out of a pod."

Superman smiled. _Maybe this won't be so bad_.

* * *

**Unknown location**

A man was walking through the woods. He could have sworn that he heard someone screaming out there, and wanted to make sure that the person was alright. He came to a clearing, and saw that a person was standing over another's body. The man came rushing to them, and checked the body on the ground.

They were dead.

"You," He turned to the figure that was standing. It was too dark to see what the person looked like, but he could tell that they were grinning at him.

The woods would be filled with screams for the rest of the day.

* * *

_**Short chapter, I know. But this chapter was just to let you know a few things about my story line. Like:**_

_**Ed's superhero name (Thank you those who voted)**_

_**Ed going to school (It will not be at Happy Harbor High School)**_

_**The relationship with Superboy and Superman.**_

_**An original supervillain.**_

_**Thank you to Kazaru13 for correcting me. You helped save me from humiliation.**_

_**Also I have picked what my OC will be like. I will probably have the next chapter up in 2 days. But if I don't then it's because I'm trying really hard to make this story good for you all. I know I can do a good job, but I need your help.**_

_**Please review or PM me on what you think I'm doing right, and what I'm doing wrong, I want to know.**_

_**Thank you.**_

_**In the meantime, I'm Just Chillin, Killin.**_


	5. Welcome to Happy Harbor

_**I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, or Young Justice**_

_**Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is teamwork**_

_**Henry Ford**_

* * *

**July 17****th**

On the pier of Star City, around midnight, a group of thugs were loading crates onto a truck. Overseeing them was a dark skinned man with white hair. He was wearing a grey dress shirt, an Italian suit, and a pair of black dress pants. Out of nowhere, an arrow came at the guys loading the truck. It landed between them, exploding. The two were sent back unconscious, while the guards and well-dressed man looked to where the arrow came from

Standing on top of some containers was Speedy.

The well-dressed man turned his gun to him. "You again? You know, I'm starting to get a little insulted that Green Arrow isn't messing up my operations personally."

Speedy seemed to take offense to that, and sneered at the dark skinned man. He dodged the shot that came towards him, and started running on the bridge he was on. As he was running, the man kept firing at the archer. Just as the last bullet was about to hit, Speedy front flipped, firing an arrow at the man while upside down. The arrow hit the gun, and exploded, revealing that the man was muscular as all hell. His clothes in ruins, he shouted, "Do you know how much I pay for a suit in my size?" He turned to his lackeys, saying "Scorch the earth, boys."

Just as they were about to start shooting, three of them were disarmed by a yellow blur. The others were disarmed by shuriken while a creepy boyish cackle was heard. Aqualad appeared in front of them, turning his water bearers into a liquid whip. He slammed them into the wall.

The muscle man dug out o large piece of earth and started to throw it at Speedy. As the young archer was dodging them, his friends were pitching him the reason they had come.

"The cave is perfect, it will have everything the team needs." Aqualad stated, just as Speedy fired a smoke arrow at the large man. Robin came up from behind them, continuing, "For covert missions. You know, spy stuff." The young speedster came out of nowhere finishing with, "And wait until you see Superboy and Ms. Martian. But I saw her first."

The smoke cleared over the boss man, and he continued to throw rocks at them. Speedy shot several of his low power explosive arrows at the guy, but they didn't seem to have an effect, the man just laughing. "Tell Arrow 'he shouldn't send boys to do a man's job'." Speedy knocked another arrow, and the dark skinned man spread his arms in a taunt. "Go ahead."

Speedy let the arrow go, and it stuck to his target. It started to expand, growing into some red substance that the crime boss couldn't break out of.

"High density, polyurethane foam, nice!" Kid Flash exclaimed. "That's just the kind of stuff that Full Metal comes up with. He keeps coming up with insane ideas, all of them cool." The yellow wearing hero had become fast friends with the alchemist. They both loved science, had a comic streak in them, and loved to mess around with others.

"So Speedy, you in?" Robin asked, seeing Speedy walking away.

The red wearing archer turned his head, simply stating. "Pass. I'm done with Arrow and the League telling me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hangout with the other kids! You're Junior Justice League is a joke. Something to keep you busy, and in your place." He continued to walk off. "I don't want any part of it. And tell your new friends to quit while their ahead."

The three heroes looked at each other, pain on their faces.

* * *

**Mount Justice, July 18****th**

The next day found Superboy, and Ms. Martian in front of a computer counsel, waiting for the arrival of a certain android, while Aqualad and Ed were waiting for their other teammates.

"So he basically told you three to shove this team up your asses, and then insulted the three of us?" Ed asked, not really surprised. He knew that Speedy was too self-centered. "Sounds like a waste of time, trying to get him to join."

"Why do we even want this guy?" Superboy asked, not liking being made fun of. He had learned some social skills from Superman, but he still had an anger issue. "I don't want to work with a spoiled little kid, wanting attention."

Ms. Martian tried to stay out of the conversation, not thinking that her opinion would be relative.

Aqualad simply stood there, replying with, "Let's just wait until Red Tornado gets here. It's been a week, I'm sure he has a mission for us."

As he said that, the zeta tubes announced some new arrivals.

"_Recognize: Robin, B-01. Kid Flash, B-03_

The duo went over to Aqualad, automatically questioning him.

"Is he here?" "What did he say?"

Aqualad calmly answered, "He's arriving now."

The whole team went over to the entrance bay, just as the mountain side was opening up. A few seconds later, red wind was forming, symbolizing the android's presence.

The android looked at the youths he was in charge of. "Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the caves?" Red Tornado asked.

Aqualad decided to speak for the group. "We had hoped you had a mission for us."

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

Robin took charge. "But it's been over a week. And nothing-"

The red android held up his hand, interrupting Robin. "You will be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

"This team is not a social club." The Atlantean responded.

"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise." The Red Tornado pointed at them. "Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave." The cybernetic hero then went inside, probably to take care of some league business.

"Keep busy." Repeated Kid Flash.

"Does he think we're falling for this?" Questioned the boy wonder.

"I don't really care if he does or doesn't." Commented Ed.

Ms. Martian turned to the red hero. "I'll find out." It seemed that she was trying to do something, but after a while, she gave up. "I'm sorry. I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I cannot read his mind."

"Nice try though." Complemented the speedster. "So, uh, you know what I', thinking right now?"

Robin scoffed, "We all know what you're thinking now." He elbowed his friend, Kid giving a resounding 'ow'.

The dark skinned hero gave a look of disappointment. "And now, we tour the club house."

"Well, Superboy and I live here. We could play tour guides." The Martian teen offered.

"Don't look at me." The Kryptonian didn't like the attention.

"We won't." Kid teased. "A private tour sounds much more fun." He tried getting closer to the only girl of the group.

"She never said private!" Reprimanded Robin.

"I think it would save time if we all go." Ed interjected.

So began the tour. The young Martian made sure to cover everything. From the entrance to the briefing room. The training room to the bedrooms. And from the pool, to the back of the mountain. When the tour ended, Kid Flash thought it would be a good chance to try and impress his crush with some interesting facts about the mountain. "The cave is actually the entire mountain. It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League."

"Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asked.

Aqualad decided to explain. "The cave's secret location was compromised."

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? That makes sense."

Full Metal put his hand on his friends shoulder. "I'll be sure to explain it to you later."

Ms. Martian put a hand on her chin in thought. "If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert."

Robin took her hand, giving her a smirk, talking quickly. "The bad guys know we know they know about the place, so they'd never think to look here."

Kid separated their contact, shortening the boy wonders rambling. "He means that were hiding in plain sight."

"Oh. That's much clearer."

Superboy seemed to sniff the air. "I smell smoke."

Ms. M gasped, "My cookies!" she flew off to where the kitchen was. The rest shrugged and followed her. When they got to the room, the Martian was telekinetically pulling the oven open, which was filled with black smoke, and pulled out the cookie sheet. All that was left of the possible goodies were black disks. "I was trying out Grammy Jones recipe from episode 17 of… never mind."

That got Ed's attention. _Episode? Grammy Jones?_ Before he could question it, Robin came in to the female's moral support. "I bet they would have tasted great." They turned to the cookies, and saw the speed man eating at a fast rate. "He doesn't seem to mind."

Kid looked up, and had the dignity to look abashed. "I have a serious metabolism."

The green teen looked unsure, "I'll make... some… more?"

"It was sweet of you to make any." Aqualad spoke up.

"Thanks Aqualad."

"We're off duty. You can call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

Kid leaned over the counter, trying to act sly. "I'm Wally. See? I already trust you with my secret I.D.," He turned to his sunglasses wearing friend, "Unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman's forbidden boy wonder here from telling anyone his real name."

"I'm Edward Elric." The blonde stated. "But just call me Ed."

"My name's no secret." The alien girl countered. "It's M'gann M'orzz. But you can call me Megan. It's an earth name and I'm on earth now."

Superboy didn't like being left out of the conversation. Superman had denied to given him a name. His new mentor had simply said "I want you to find a name on your own. Not many people have the opportunity that you have now."

So while Superboy started to walk away, he didn't expect to have a voice in his mind. _"Don't worry Superboy, will help you find a name."_

Superboy grunted, turning towards Megan. "Get out of my head!" He yelled.

The others were confused, but understood when their Martian friend opened the telepathic link to them all. _"What's wrong, I don't understand." _Everyone bent over, not liking the intrusion. All except Ed. He had gained the knowledge of everything thrice. He could handle a voice in his head. _"Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."_

Ed decided to explain to Megan gently. "Megs, this isn't Mars. Telepathy is a huge invasion of privacy towards us. And Superboy has had enough of telepaths in his mind for a lifetime. I please ask you to not do it again."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"She was interrupted by the clone.

"Just stay out." He growled. He stalked out of the room, into the living quarters.

Megan looked down, so Ed decided to change topics. "So since the tours done, what do you want to do now?"

The red headed Martian contemplated, then slapped her forehead "Hello Megan!" She called, "I know what we can do."

She led them down to the hanger bay after collecting Superboy, who told Megan he was sorry. "I have some anger issues to work out. Superman is trying to help, but it's a slow process."

When they got to the hanger room, they all looked on in wonder at a red oval that occupied the room. Megan waved her hand forward, like revealing a great marvel. "It's my Martian bio ship."

"Bio, as in organic?" Asked Ed. "It doesn't look like it's even capable of floating."

"It's in rest, silly. I'll wake it."

She waved her hand, and the oval turned into a full out fighter jet looking vehicle, without the guns. It turned around itself, and opening its doors. The heroes all got into the ship, checking out the cool purple interior that morphed to have six seats. When the boys sat in the seats, they all looked shocked when seatbelts suddenly came around them.

Megan took the captain's chair, and took the controls. The ship started to go up, and she spoke out loud, "Red Tornado, please open the bay doors."

As the doors opened, Megan had the ship come closer to the exit. As she took off, and was doing aerial maneuvers, Ed asked her, "I would love to try stage one alchemy on this ship. To be able to replicate it would mean a lot more options for my experiments."

The Martian girl didn't look excited about that. "I don't think so. The ship is linked to my mind. Whatever it feels, I feel. And I don't want to know what alchemy feels like."

"Hey," Robin called, "How about showing us a little Martian shape shifting?"

Megan got up and morphed. She turned into what a female version of Robin would look like. Then she spun, and did the same for Kid Flash. "Is it wrong that I think I', hot?" Kid asked dreamily.

"Yes," Ed answered. "Yes it is."

Robin clapped his hands. "Impressive," he commented, "But you do know that you won't be fooling anybody with those."

"Boys are a lot harder than girls." She said dejectedly.

"And your clothes?" Kaldur asked.

"Their organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands."

"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Man hunter does?" Wally questioned.

"Density shifting?" Megan rhetorically asked. "No, it's a very advanced technique."

Robin leaned in. "Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall." The boy wonder started snickering. "When he tries it, bloody nose."

"Dude!" Wally incredulously exclaimed.

The Martian smiled. "Here's something I can do." They looked out of the ship, and saw that it had gone invisible. "Camouflage mode."

The intercom came on, and Red Tornadoes monotone voice came through it. "Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I'm sending coordinates."

"Received. Adjusting course." Megan stated.  
Robin scoffed. "Tornado's keeping us busy again."

"Well, a simple fire lead you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert."

Ed looked at her admiringly. "She has a point."

"Uh, guys." Superboy said uncertainly. "I think I know the cause." They all turned right to see a cyclone coming at them. Megan turned the ship to avoid it, but was still sucked in. After some hard aerial course changes, the teen Martian got the ship out of the tornado. She landed the spacecraft, and the teen heroes got out in time to see a bunch of people running out of the power plant.  
"Robin, are tornados common in New England?" Asked Aqualad, before he noticed that the boy wasn't next to him. "Robin?" They heard his weird cackle, and barely saw him enter a window of the building.

When they got into the place, they came across a strange sight. The whirlwinds were being generated by a red suit of armor, with black and blue streaks on it. Tubes were connected from its head to its hands. It had a brown scarf around its neck. The red thing was currently tossing Robin around with the winds it was creating. As Robin got tossed close to the group, Superboy went over to check on him. "Who's your new friend?"

The others went to attack. "I didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough.

As the others got close, the thing spoke, "My apologies." The suit talked with a sophisticated atmosphere. "You may address me as Mister Twister."

The identified twister sent hurricane winds at Superboy, effectively throwing him against a wall. That stopped everyone in their charge. They looked at each other and a simple tactic was formed. _Attack as one_. Kid put on his goggles, and rushed forward, going in for a flying kick, but was immediately rebuffed, and sent flying out a door and outside. The suit then hovered above a earthen hand that appeared beneath him, and then dodged a few exploding disks. He sent a quick blast at the Martian, forcing her to slam into Aqualad.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero." Mr. Twister announced to Robin and Full Metal. "I was not, however expecting children."

"We're not children!" Shouted Robin as he sent some exploding disks at his enemy. Twister just created a wind tunnel barrier that blocked out the explosion.

"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."

Ed clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground. Robin kept talking. "Well, we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can." Out of the ground, a rock made lion came running towards the villain. Twister sent blasts of strong wind at it, but when the earth eroded, new earth seemed to take its place. So Twister hovered in the air to avoid it, and it crumbled to the floor. But above Twister, the steam vent broke due to Ms. Martian's telekinesis. Once blinded, Superboy jumped to meet Twister with a super punch, but his battle cry gave out his location, and was sent back, and into the Martian.

Aqualad and Robin came in for close combat, but were forced into mini cyclones and directing them right into each other's faces.

Full Metal turned his auto mail into an arm sword, and charged in, but was sent towards the ceiling, and fell back down to the ground. _This is bullshit!_

"Indeed." The monotone voice said. "That was quite turbing." The suit then floated out the door.

He was met outside by Kid Flash. "What have you done to my team!?" He demanded.

"Embarrassed them largely." The wind generator blasted Kid with a small cyclone, but was stopped from splattering on the side of the building by his favorite Martian.

"I got you Wally."

"Ohh. Thanks." He was set back down, as the rest of the team joined them.

"I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now." The metal man said mockingly.

"What do you want?!" Aqualad shouted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Twister asked while flying up high. "I', waiting for a real hero."

Aqualad turned to Miss Martian. "Read his mind. Find a weakness."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that."

"It's Ok with the bad guys."

Megan tried, but then said, "Nothing, am getting nothing." Then a look of realization came to her face. "Hello Megan. Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise." Everyone stared at her. "Think about it. He's inorganic. "She announced, pointing at said figure. "An android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornados?"

"Red tornado sent us here." Confirmed Kaldur.

"After telling us we would be tested soon enough." Robin caught on. "This is his test. Something to keep us busy."

"Speedy called it. We're a joke." Kid finished.

The team walked over to the apparent android. "We know who you are and what you want." The boy wonder called out. "So let's end this."

Twister responded in a dark tone. "Consider it ended."

The android lifted his arms to the air, generating a super storm. Aqualad was not deterred. "An impressive show, but we will not indulge you, we will not engage."

Lightning was starting to be created through the super cloud that now covered over 500 yards in circumference. "Uh," Wally was starting to get scared. "Can Red Tornado do that?"

"You think I'm Tornado?" Twister asked disbelievingly. "Ironic." The cloud shot a huge lightning bolt down on the teens, leaving only Superboy ready to fight. He jumped up to attack, but was shot down by more lightning. Twister came down to finish the job. However, the bio ship came between the young heroes, cloaking them from the androids view. "Fine then. I won't deny you children have power. But playing hide and seek with youwould not help me achieve my objectives, so stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy."

After everyone got situated, Wally asked the obvious. "What happened?"

"I placed the bio ship between us." Superboy started to crush the ground that surrounded the creator he was in. "And that's supposed to make it right?" he asked. "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado."

"Hey," Ed growled out. "Let's not blame each other. Nobody here wants to sabotage the others. Now let's get our heads in the game."

"What gives you the right to say anything? You never even got close to him." Kid pointed out.

"At least I wasn't knocked out the first half of the fight!"

"Everyone calm down!" Aqualad yelled. "Arguing about this, isn't getting us anywhere." They all fell silent. "Does anyone have an idea on how to take this guy down?"

They thought, and Ed said, "Let's look at the facts. The guy can generate winds, and storms. Like Red Tornado."

"He's differently a robot. I couldn't read his mind." Stated Miss Martian.

And Robin got a look of revelation. "Wait. He can generate winds, _like Tornado. _He's inorganic, _like Tornado_. And he keeps saying he's waiting for a real hero, _like Tornado!_" Everyone looked at him in a confused manor. "Okay, what I'm saying is he is here for Red Tornado."

Superboy butted in. "What does this have to do with stopping him?"

The green girl's eyes lit up. "Guys, I have an idea."

* * *

Mr. Twister had just arrived on a beach front area. He started making water tornados to attract attention. Boats were destroyed. Houses were broken. Wide spread panic covered the people. After a minute, other winds seemed to take Twister's out. Above him, Red Tornado floated down. "I was beginning to belive you would never show up."

"I', here now" Red Tornado sent a small tornado at the villain, and thus, began their fight. Wind against wind, they sent several of their own generated cyclones at the other, and then dispelling the ones that got close to themselves. It went on for a while, until Red Tornado stated "We are evenly matched, Twister."

"No Tornado, we are not." Twister sent lightning at his adversary, and hit him back. The android seemed out of commission, and Twister walked over to him. He knelt down and sent tiny wires to connect with Tornados head. "Remain still, android. The reprogramming won't take long."

Suddenly, Tornado grabbed the wires and turned his head. It morphed to reveal Megan, who was shape shifting. "Longer than you might think."

Twister tried to pull the wires out of her hands, and was shot back by her powers, and sent right into a cyclone. The cyclone turned out to be Wally, who was spinning. Twister was then grabbed by Superboy, and the clone started to punch holes in the android. Then was punched back into the ocean. Under the water, Aqualad came up to him, hitting him with a spear, and then sending an electrical current through the spear, and blowing up the spot in front of him, forcing Twister out of the water. On the ground, his body was then encased in an earthen hand, and then Robins exploding disk came out, and took of his arms.

It was over. A hatch then opened on the robot, and out came a skinny man, who was sputtering out, "Foul, I- I call foul."

Megan levitated a huge rock and brought it over the guy. Kaldur saw this, and shouted "Megan, No!" But it was too late. She dropped the boulder, and it crushed the man.

Robin's shocked face turned angry, and he turned towards his Martian teammate. "I don't know how you do it on Mars, but here on earth, you _don't kill_ your captives!"

Megan smirked, "You said you trusted me," and she lifted the boulder up, revealing that the guy was a robot as well. "See, I still couldn't read his mind, because he was an android."

"Okay, that's weird." Ed commented.

Everyone looked confused. "What?" Aqualad inquired.

"It was an android piloting a robot. Doesn't that seem weird to you?"

They shook their heads. "Let's just get the remains to the cave. Maybe we can find out about it's origins."

Kid went up to the pieces, and picked up an eyeball. "Cool, souvenir."

_I'm never going to get used to these people._

**The Cave**

* * *

The remaining, crushed parts of the android were laid out before them and Red Tornado.

"It's almost like it was built specifically to fight you," observed Kaldur.

"Agreed," nodded the robot.

"Is that why you wouldn't help us when we called you?" asked M'gann.

"No," said Red Tornado simply, "This was your fight. I do not believe it is my roll to solve your problems. Nor is it your roll to solve mine."

"But if you're in danger," Ed countered, "Then-"

"Consider this matter closed," said Red Tornado, walking away down a hallway.

"Batman, Aquaman,and Flash," muttered Wally, "They'd have jumped right in to fix things."

"I guess if we're going to have a babysitter," said Robin, "A heartless machine is exactly what we need."

"Dude!" hissed Wally, "Harsh!"

"And inaccurate," Red Tornado called back, "I have a heart. Carbon-steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."

"Right," said a flustered Robin. "Sorry...I'll try to, ah, be more... accurate in the future."

"And more respectful," Kaldur butted in.

"See that you do," said Red Tornado, turning away.

"Speedy was so wrong about this," smiled Wally as he headed towards the kitchen.

"This team thing might just work out," agreed Robin as he and Kaldur followed.

* * *

_**I have a few shoutouts to thank. **_

_**First, thank you to Breyannia for reading through this chapter to make sure it flowed well. **_

_**Second, thank you Kazaru for the Full Metal Alchemist information.**_

_**And third, thak you readers for doing what you do so well.**_

_**Tell next time, I'm just Chillin, Killin.**_


End file.
